Sermon Tone Analysis
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I. INTRODUCTION:
a.
Many churches have emphasized the gift and power of a leader, far above his character development.
This imbalance has caused many problems in the Church, including the backsliding of many leaders.
b.
Today, however, God is bringing us back to a balance between gift and character.
The Lord is not concerned with a leader’s gift and anointing only.
He also cares deeply about a leader’s lifestyle and character.
c.
He desires a balance between gift and character in every one of His true leaders.
d. “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a jus weight is his delight”.
II.
THE DEFINITION OF CHARACTER
a. Character is the seat of one’s moral being.
b.
Character is the inner life of man.
It will reflect either the traits of the sinfulnature (being influenced by the world) or the traits of the divine nature (being influenced by the Word of God).
c. Character is the combination of qualities distinguishing any person or class of persons.
d.
Character is displayed in the action of an individual under pressure.
e.
Finally, character is the sum total of all the negative and positive qualities in a person’s life, exemplified by one’s thoughts, values, motivations, attitudes, feelings and actions.
“Talents are best nurtured in solitude.
Character is best formed in the stormy billows of the world.”
Johann von Goethe.
“Character is that which can do without success.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
III.
WHAT CHARACTER IS NOT
a. Character is not just what a person will ideally be in the future.
Character is what a person is at this present time.
When pressure comes to a person’s life, the real person surfaces.
A person may act and think one way under the blessings of the Lord, but quite another way when the trials and heat of life are his portion.
b.
Character is not only how a person acts.
Character also includes a person’s inner thoughts, motives and attitudes.
Thoughts, though hidden, indicate the real character of a person.
Motives, too, are true expressions of the inner man.
To change the character of a person, one must go deeper than action.
c.
Character does not appear without pressure.
The pressures of life test what the Lord has really accomplished in a person’s character.
When the heat is upon a person’s character, his true character surfaces.
The common irritations of everyday living expose the weaknesses in every person’s life.
How do you respond to the disappointments and pressures of everyday life?
Character is formed under such pressures and circumstances.
The qualities that are truly part of a person’s character are consistent, whether the heat is on or off his life.
4.
d.
Character is not only that which other people see on the external.
Character is what other people do not see.
People may see only the side of a person that a person wants to display, but God sees the real person.
An individual cannot hide his weaknesses from the Lord.
Man may look at the external, but the Lord looks at the heart.
The Lord commands good works from each one of us, but these must proceed out of a godly character.
A person can do many outward religious works, and still be ungodly.
Works are not always a sign of good character.
e. Character is not limited to a person’s relationship with his spiritual family.
It also shows in how he treats his natural family.
A Christian must demonstrate his faith and love in the way he treats his immediate family.
A person’s character can be discerned by the way he respects and honors his mother and father.
A Christian with an unbelieving natural family can win his family to Christ by having a mature, loving character toward them.
IV.
NEGATIVE CHARACTER TRAITS AND THEIR EXPRESSION
a.
The following list of negative character traits, now on the increase in these last days, was taken from , , , , and 4: 1-7.
1. Perilous times (difficult, hard to bear and troublesome days): the Church should have a healthy fear of the perverse days in which she is living.
2. Men shall be lovers of their own selves: self-centered and in willful pursuit of sin.
3. Covetous (fond of money, in love with money): to have a wrong value system, wanting something that belongs to someone else.
4. Boasters (braggarts, empty pretenders): to boast about ungodly or false things in an ungodly pride of self.
5. Proud (haughty, appearing above others): to have the wrong evaluation of oneself and others; to be blinded to the truth of one’s lowliness.
6. Blasphemous (disrespectful against God or man): To have no respect of the value of anything, to slander the things of God, the Church, and all positive values ordained by God.
7. Disobedient to parents: to become a part of the spirit of the day, which is rebellion and lawlessness.
8. Unthankful (lack of gratitude): to ungratefully, unthankfully take advantage of others.
9. Unholy (profane, immoral): to live only for the satisfaction of one’s sensual desires.
10.
Without natural affection (sexual perversion, abortion, child beating, unfeeling): to pervert what is good and natural in order to assert one’s self; homosexuality, sodomy, lesbianism, incest.
11.
Truce-breakers (cannot keep promises): to be untrue to ones promises, to cause a distrust in ones word.
12. False accusers (liars, bribers): to oppress others with unverified, undocumented criticism.
13.
Incontinent (without self-control or moral restraint): to be so far lost in love of sin that one impulsively sins, and has no control over one’s moral behavior.
14.
Fierce (untame, savage): to behave as a passionate, unthinking beast toward others.
15.
Despisers of those who are good: to belittle or to treat shamefully the righteous actions of others.
16.
Traitors (betrayers): to lack a sense of loyalty to the true laws of friendship.
17.
Heady (rash, reckless, headstrong): to be ruled only by one’s will, to be a reckless thinker, to have a darkened mind.
18. High-minded (conceited, proud): to be blinded by the pride of the intellect; to have pride in ones knowledge.
19.
Lovers of pleasure more than of God (fulfilling one’s own sinful desires): to have a wrong perspective on life, a value system overcome by temporal influences.
20.
Having a form of godliness (external religiosity without a changed life): a hypocritical lifestyle.
21.
Scoffers (mockers, ridiculers): to consistently mock and ridicule the righteous and holy.
22.
Some shall depart from the faith: to backslide and reject God’s plan for one’s life and basic Bible teaching.
23.
Giving heed to seducing spirits (to cause to wander, to lead astray): to allow oneself to be deceived, to invite the devil to lead one astray from the truth.
24.
Doctrines of devils (teachings from the pit of hell): to require abstinence from meats or lifetime celibacy, to add unbiblical rules to the Church.
25.
Speaking lies in hypocrisy: to teach false doctrines and not be a genuine believer.
26.
Having a seared conscience (no inner sense of right and wrong): to lose one’s sensitivity to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit through continued sin.
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